www.Lint-Magnet.com

Maybe it’s a Miami thing, or maybe our technology has completely warped our collective sense of time. I am not sure what the reason is, but I am astounded at how much disrespect for peoples’ time is tolerated, if not outright condoned, in this town. Call me naive, call me punctilious, but when I tell someone that I will be in a particular place at a specific time, I am (barring natural disasters or unanticipated traffic jams) there.

Apparently, I am a rare specimen. Apparently, it is acceptable to ask someone to meet you somewhere and then just outright not show up. This is the second work day in a row that a person in the position of professional authority indicated that we would meet at a particular time and place, and the second work day in a row that a person in the position of professional authority failed to appear at stated time and location. Is my time really that inconsequential to other people? There really is no excuse. I have a cell phone. I have e-mail. I have Facebook. I am highly reachable. Instead, like an asshole, I drove all the way to Miami Beach again to a no-show. This is really, really infuriating.

On Friday, I rode to the beach to do some work for one of my freelance writing gigs. The guy I work for wrote to me a day or two prior with a request that I come into the office for a few hours. We agreed on a time, I paid for parking, and waited for over half an hour before I surmised he would not be showing up. As a result, I ended up on Miami Beach, stuck in the hellish traffic jam detailed in my previous entry. Today, I came in to report to my so-called “real” job, expecting my boss to arrive as agreed upon both last week in person and last night via e-mail. It is now more than two hours since agreed-upon appointment time passed and, as it stands, no phone calls, no e-mails, and no boss. If this is normal workplace protocol, it’s hardly a mystery to me why we’re in a major economic crisis right now.

In economic terms, time is a limited resource. Much like money, individuals allocate time in various ways depending on needs or personal preference. The opportunity cost of your leisure time is the work you could have been doing, and vice-versa. But to me, time is something beyond a quantifiable variable on a graph. I believe that when you give someone your time, you give them a piece of yourself, even if it’s just 30 minutes worth. I believe it is important to show up on time or to respectfully reschedule because I realize that others could be doing something more important instead. When I am stood up like this, I am forced to believe that somehow, my time is less valuable, is easily disposable, and is completely malleable to your own selfishness. That is certainly not how I see myself and it is completely unacceptable.

Maybe I should be my own boss.

EDIT: About 30 seconds after I hit “post,” I finally got a phone call. The rant about time still stands, though.